This application displays Photo Simulations completed on the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project. Photo Simulations allow stakeholders to visualize proposed project design changes through the use of photography and highly detailed 3D renderings. 3D renderings are composited into existing condition photographs to provide "before and after" scenarios. This technique helps stakeholders understand what proposed conditions will look like when built.
Photo simulations are for discussion purposes only and may change pending public, regulatory, and utility review.
Click each Photo Simulation icon on the overview map to access the Photo Simulation for that location. Click and drag the slider on each simulation to transition between the existing and proposed conditions. Right click and hold to zoom and pan within the simulation frame.
The SunZia Southwest Transmission Project is approximately 520miles long, and traverses portions of Arizona and New Mexico. The SunZia Project includes two nominal 500 kilovolt (kV) transmission lines located on federal, state, and private lands. Following months of close coordination with the Department of Defense and White Sands Missile Range, SunZia has elected to pursue a new location for a portion of the SunZia Project in New Mexico. The objective of this re-route is to develop a new alignment that removes the SunZia Project from the Northern Call Up Area that is utilized by White Sands Missile Range for very low-profile test missions.
Possible new alignments were evaluated in a siting study that was prepared for SunZia’s right-of-way amendment application that was submitted to federal agencies in March 2020. The siting study identified two possible re-routes within the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge along the existing 115 kV transmission line owned and operated by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. (Tri-State) and the existing 345 kV transmission line owned and operated by El Paso Electric Company. SunZia is coordinating with these utilities to determine the opportunities for using existing rights-of-way and collocating these transmission facilities within existing rights-of-way.
The visual simulations are for a high voltage direct current (DC) structures that accommodates one 500 kV DC circuit and Tri-State’s existing 115 kV circuit. This structure would allow for the elimination of the existing 115 kV structures. The preliminary structures have been designed to stay entirely within the existing right-of-way and to be strictly consistent with the rights and restrictions of the underlying easement for the Tri-State transmission line. SunZia continues to coordinate with Tri-State on the structure design and use of the utility’s existing right-of-way.
To learn more about this project visit sunzia.net
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